3 Singkawang Officials Detained, Allegedly Losing The State Rp3.1 Billion From Retribution Relief

Head of Singkawang District Attorney, Nur Handayani (ANTARA/Narwati)

SINGKAWANG The Singkawang District Attorney's Office (Kejari), West Kalimantan, has detained three Singkawang City Government officials related to alleged corruption in irregularities in granting relief from the levy of business services for the utilization of Land Over Management Rights (HPL).

"There are already three suspects, each with the initials S as the Singkawang Regional Secretary who also served as the Acting Mayor of Singkawang, WT as the Head of the Regional Financial and Asset Management Agency (BPKAD), and PG as the Head of the Regional Revenue Agency (Bapenda)," said Singkawang Kejari Head Nur Handayani in Singkawang, Antara, Sunday, October 5.

He explained that his party had examined 23 witnesses and three experts, namely state financial experts, criminal experts, and experts in calculating state or regional losses. When asked about the possibility of other suspects, Nur said it depended on the results of further investigation developments.

"Based on the results of the investigation and case exposure, the team found a series of corruption crimes that caused state financial losses based on two sufficient pieces of evidence," he said.

From the audit report of the West Kalimantan Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) Number PE.04.03/SR/S-1569/PW14/5/2024 dated December 24, 2024, state losses in this case reached Rp3.1 billion.

For their actions, the three suspects were charged with Article 2 paragraph (1) subsidiary Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 which was amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code.

This alleged corruption case is related to irregularities in the provision of relief from levy of business services that cannot be collected or paid back, related to the use of HPL owned by the Singkawang City Government in Sedau Village, South Singkawang District, in 2021.

S is scheduled to undergo his first trial at the Pontianak Corruption Court on October 16, 2025.

Meanwhile, the attorneys of two other suspects, WT and PG, Agus Adam Ritonga, regretted the detention of his client.

Appointed the ultimum remedium principle in this case injures our client's sense of justice. Giving tax relief should be commonplace, even known as tax amnesty (tax amnesty) as part of the state's fiscal policy," said Agus.

According to him, the status of the two suspects as state civil servants (ASN) should make the case administratively resolved.

"Law Number 30 of 2014 concerning Government Administration has provided a legal basis for officials in making decisions. Therefore, this case should be resolved administratively, not criminally," he said.

However, Agus emphasized that his party still respects the legal process carried out by the Prosecutor's Office.

"We still respect the legal process and will try optimally to seek justice for our clients," he said.